Passengers refuse to let airline wing it

But SriLankan Airlines passengers said there was no way they were flying without it.

Britain’s Daily Mail reported that after an airliner lost its wingtip in a runway collision at London’s Heathrow Airport, passengers rebelled and said they weren’t getting back onboard.

The SriLankan Airlines customers had been on the Airbus A340 a day earlier when it sliced through a wing of a stationary British Airways 747, delaying departure by 24 hours and severely damaging the 747’s wing. So they were stunned to be boarding the same plane next day for the 10-hour flight to Colombo.

When the cabin crew then admitted there was still a 5-foot section of wing tip missing, there was “a minor revolt” as seven passengers demanded to be let off the plane. The crew insisted that the plane could fly just fine without it, but passengers weren’t buying it.

Passenger Ian McKie, 54, said, “They assured us it didn’t matter but a number of the passengers insisted that they would rather get on the next flight.”

A SriLankan Airlines statement said of the missing wingtip section is “purely for aerodynamics and to keep fuel costs to a minimum. There is no impact on safety at all. Safety is our absolute priority.”